We are Confessional Calvinists and Prayer Book Churchmen. We do much work at our FB page entitled "Reformed Prayer Book Churchmen."

Tuesday, September 8, 2015

8 September 1499 A.D. Pietro “Peter Martyr” Vermigli Born—Italian Reformer, Aide to Thomas Cranmer, Shaper of Book of Common Prayer, Hebrew Scholar, Professor at Oxford and Zurich, Close Associate of John Jewel of Salisbury

8 September 1499 A.D.Pietro “Peter Martyr” Vermigli
Born—Italian Reformer, Aide to Thomas Cranmer, Shaper of Book of Common Prayer, Hebrew Scholar, Professor at Oxford and
Zurich, Close Associate of John Jewel of Salisbury

Toward the end of his time in Naples, he read Martin
Bucer's commentaries on the Gospels and the Psalms and also Zwingli's De vera et falsa
religione.[9] This was an act of ecclesiastical defiance, but not an uncommon one in
reformist circles. Vermigli seems to have slowly moved in a Protestant
direction primarily through study of the Bible and the Church
fathers, especially Augustine. He probably read Protestant literature critically, and it was common for
those in reform-minded circles to read Protestant writers while remaining in
the Roman Catholic Church.[10] He also became acquainted with Juan
de Valdés, whose teaching, especially his strong doctrine of justification by faith, was very similar to that of contemporary Protestants, though Valdés
remained a Catholic. Evangelical oriented Catholics such as Bernardino
Ochino and Marcantonio Flaminio, along with Vermigli, gathered with Valdés. Vermigli embraced the
Protestant doctrine of justification by faith alone during this time, and he had probably rejected the traditional Roman Catholic view of the
sacraments.[11] He was accused of erroneous doctrine, and the Spanish viceroy of Naples Don
Pedro de Toledo prohibited his preaching. The
prohibition was removed on appeal to Rome with the help of powerful friends
such as Cardinal Pole. In 1541 Vermigli was elected the important post of prior
of Basilica of San Frediano in Lucca.[7]

On the ascension of Catholic Mary
I of England, Vermigli was permitted to return to Strasbourg, where
since his departure and the death of Bucer in 1551 Lutheranism had gained
influence under the leadership of Johann
Marbach. He was asked to sign both the Augsburg Confession and the Wittenberg Concordat. He was willing to sign the Augsburg Confession, but not the Concordat.[19] He was retained anyway and reappointed professor of theology, but
controversy over the Eucharist as well as Vermigli's strong doctrine of double predestination continued with the Lutherans. Another professor in Strasbourg, Girolamo
Zanchi, who had converted to Protestantism while under Vermigli
in Lucca, shared Vermigli's convictions regarding the Eucharist and
predestination, and they became allies. Vermigli also befriended a number of
English exiles, including John
Jewel. His increasing alienation from the Lutheran
establishment lead him in 1556 to accept an offer from Heinrich Bullinger in Zurich to succeed Konrad
Pellikan as professor. John Jewel came along with him.[20]

In Zurich, Vermigli's Eucharistic views were accepted, especially since the
Consensus Tigurinus of 1549. He ran into controversy, however, over his strong doctrine of
predestination. Bullinger tolerated his view, though he did not share it, but
his colleague Theodore Bibliander was less conciliatory. Vermigli attempted to avoid confrontation over the
issue, but Bibliander began to openly attack him in 1557, at one point
challenging him to a duel with a double-edged axe. Bibliander was dismissed in
1560.[21] Vermigli attended the Colloquy at Poissy in 1561 with Theodore Beza, a
conference held in France with the intention of reconciling Catholics and
Protestants. The colloquy was not a success.[22] Vermigli became entangled in predestinarian controversy again in 1561,
when Zanchi, who had remained in Strasbourg when Vermigli left for Zurich, was
accused of heretical teachings on the Eucharist and predestination by the
Lutheran John Marbach. Vermigli was selected to write the official judgement of
the Zurich church on the matter. His affirmation of a strong doctrine of
predestination represented the opinion of the Zurich church as a whole.[23] Vermigli was invited to Geneva in 1557, and to England again in 1561, but
declined both invitations. He remained in Zurich until his death on 12 November
1562, maintaining a constant correspondence with Bishop John
Jewel and other English prelates and reformers.[22][citation needed]

Wives

His first wife, Catherine, a former nun who died at Oxford on 17 February
1553, was disinterred in 1557 and tried for heresy; legal evidence was not forthcoming because witnesses had not understood
her tongue; and instead of the corpse being burnt, it was merely cast on a
dunghill in the stable of the dean of Christ Church. On the initiative of James
Calfhill,[24] the remains were identified after Elizabeth's
accession, mingled with the supposed relics of St Frideswide to prevent future desecration, and reburied in the cathedral. Vermigli's
second wife, Caterina Merenda, whom he married at Zurich, survived him,
marrying a merchant of Locarno.

Works

Vermigli published over a score of theological works, chiefly Biblical
commentaries and treatises on the Eucharist. His learning was striking and
profound, and he served as an important theological resource for both the Swiss[25] and English Reformations.[26]John Calvin
himself regarded Peter Martyr as one of the greatest expounders of the doctrine
of the Eucharist in Protestantism.

Historical study

Vermigli's friend and colleague Josias
Simler expanded Vermigli's funeral oration and published it as
his biography in 1563. It is very accurate and is the basis of subsequent
accounts of Vermigli, though it has been amended somewhat by recent studies,
especially by Philip McNair's work, Peter Martyr in Italy.[27] Though he was frequently cited as an authority in the seventeenth and
eighteenth centuries, no book-length biography of him was written after
Simler's until the nineteenth century. Mcnair's 1967 work seems to have caused
a revival of Vermigli studies.[28] Modern Vermigli study focuses on his connection to the development of Reformed scholasticism. Scholars are divided between those who believe Vermigli and other Italian
Aristotelians betrayed biblical Calvinist theology for scholastic method, those
who do not see much scholastic influence in Vermigli, and those who do not see
a conflict between scholastic theological method and the theology of early
Calvinists.[29]

· This
article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed.
(1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.).
Cambridge University Press.It has been edited to reflect recent
findings by historians, especially McNair.

·Donnelly,
John Patrick (1990) A Bibliography of the Works of Peter Martyr Vermigli;
compiled by John Patrick Donnelly in collaboration with Robert M. Kingdon; with
a register of Vermigli's correspondence by Marvin W. Anderson. Kirksville, Mo:
Sixteenth Century Journal Publishers ISBN 0-940474-14-X

·Donnelly,
John Patrick (1976) Calvinism and Scholasticism in Vermigli's Doctrine of
Man and Grace. Leiden: Brill.